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It's a tongue twister, but it's true. Eric Fischman likes to fish for big, fast fish. "Tuna are the hardest to catch since they are built like torpedoes, so we spend hours and hours and days and days trying to snag one," says the
MFS Growth
fund manager, who enjoys searching for the elusive Atlantic bluefins with his two teenagers east of Cape Cod on the family's 28-foot boat.

During the week, Fischman trolls for blue chips like
Appleaapl -0.07405685955534898%Apple Inc.U.S.: NasdaqUSD128.9944
-0.0956-0.07405685955534898%
/Date(1425412568170-0600)/
Volume (Delayed 15m)
:
24898535
P/E Ratio
17.25033467202142Market Cap
751916704040.229
Dividend Yield
1.458947695173056% Rev. per Employee
2153110More quote details and news »aaplinYour ValueYour ChangeShort position
(ticker: AAPL) and
Visa V -1.2361205936253548%VISA Inc. Cl AU.S.: NYSEUSD274.85
-3.44-1.2361205936253548%
/Date(1425412551596-0600)/
Volume (Delayed 15m)
:
1363874
P/E Ratio
30.544561060215244Market Cap
170842396978.727
Dividend Yield
0.6988679794707531% Rev. per Employee
1360950More quote details and news »VinYour ValueYour ChangeShort position
(V) that also have the ability to outswim their rivals. "We try to figure what a company is going to earn over the next five years, how fast they are going to grow, and how long they are going to be able to continue to grow," he says. Fischman wants to catch the ones whose stock prices don't fully reflect their long-term prospects.

Investors seeking a "straightforward growth fund are in good hands" at MFS Growth (MFEGX), according to Morningstar. Over five years, the $5.3 billion fund has returned an average of 2.5% annually, and for 10 years, 10%. Over both time periods, MFS Growth's gains put them in the top quintile of all large-cap growth funds. The fund carries a 5.75% front load, but an expense ratio of 1.09%.

Like some of its rivals, however, the fund has found itself running against the tide, or the market's recent obsession with dividends. As of Oct. 10, it was up 18.25% for the preceding year, trailing the Standard & Poor's 500's torrid 22.59% rise. "Our lagging the index was due to our underweight of dividend-yielding stocks and mega-caps, which did well because everyone was afraid the world was coming to an end," Fischman explains. He has no intention of changing course. Growth, he says, should continue to top value because growth doesn't include as many financial stocks, and large-cap should benefit from its position as a safe port for nervous investors.

THE 47-YEAR OLD SON of two University of Chicago doctors grew up he thinking he would follow in their footsteps, but he ended up getting a law degree from Boston University and an M.B.A . from Columbia. He worked as a lawyer for the Federal Reserve Board and then as an equity researcher at
State StreetSTT -0.44991398703189095%State Street Corp.U.S.: NYSEUSD75.23
-0.34-0.44991398703189095%
/Date(1425412569379-0600)/
Volume (Delayed 15m)
:
1161843
P/E Ratio
16.150756143667298Market Cap
31156075486.9748
Dividend Yield
1.5960630444902573% Rev. per Employee
336837More quote details and news »STTinYour ValueYour ChangeShort position
(STT) before joining MFS in 2000, just as the dot-com bubble burst.

Fischman searches for high-quality companies with good balance sheets and profits growing at an above-average rate that's sustainable for the next five years. He's most interested in outfits that have a unique product, service, or intellectual property, which gives them pricing power. He also wants a management with a proven track record, an equity stake, integrity, and a history of using shareholders' funds wisely. MFS Growth's average market cap is $80.42 billion.

Where does he see these attributes? More than a quarter of the fund is in tech stocks, and his largest holdings are Apple and
Googlegoog 0.060489375853257255%Google Inc. Cl CU.S.: NasdaqUSD571.6856
0.34560.060489375853257255%
/Date(1425412548689-0600)/
Volume (Delayed 15m)
:
1003873
P/E Ratio
28.192526140743045Market Cap
390118128469.246
Dividend Yield
N/ARev. per Employee
1228170More quote details and news »googinYour ValueYour ChangeShort position
(GOOG), both of which have soared in 2012. In Apple's case, growth will come from iPhones and iPads, whose popularity still is underappreciated by the market, based on a recent multiple of 12 times consensus 2013 earnings. "We are going to see a new tablet—the iPad Mini—and a new television," he says. Apple, up 58% this year, also sits on a pile of cash.

Google, which has risen 15% this year, is relatively inexpensive at $744.56, or 15.3 times earnings, given its longtime double-digit growth rate, notes Fischman. "The worry is that they are going to throw money at acquisitions that haven't made a lot of money, such as YouTube, but the search business is great," he says. His costs are roughly $130 to $190 a share.

MFS Growth Fund

Total Returns*

1-Yr

3-Yr

5-Yr

MFS Growth Fund

18.25%

11.74%

2.47%

S&P 500 TR

22.59%

12.49%

0.48%

% of

Top 10 Holdings

Ticker

Portfolio**

Apple

AAPL

8.32%

Google

GOOG

4.00%

Danaher

DHR

3.18%

Qualcomm

QCOM

2.39%

American Tower REIT

AMT

2.33%

EMC

EMC

2.19%

Precision Castparts

PCP

1.91%

Visa

V

1.90%

Target

TGT

1.84%

Thermo Fisher Scientific

TMO

1.71%

Total:

29.77%

*All returns are as of 10/10/12; three and five year returns are annualized. **As of 08/31/12. Source: Morningstar

More investor support should help media stocks like
News Corp.NWS -1.3529411764705883%News Corp Cl BU.S.: NasdaqUSD16.77
-0.23-1.3529411764705883%
/Date(1425412516222-0600)/
Volume (Delayed 15m)
:
312402
P/E Ratio
37.266666666666666Market Cap
9941210019.22607
Dividend Yield
N/ARev. per Employee
395182More quote details and news »NWSinYour ValueYour ChangeShort position
(NWS), he adds. The shares, which trade at about 14.6 times forward estimates, should go higher as the separation of its publishing unit from its film and television properties approaches. (News Corp. is the parent of Barron's.) He started building a position when it was trading between $15 and $18 a share. It recently hit $24.34.

"News Corp.'s complexity scared investors. It is in publishing, film, and cable, and it is international, so it is difficult to value," he says. The split makes it easier to value.

"Publishing is a cash cow that doesn't grow much. Broadcasting is growing internationally, and retransmission rules have come into effect that allow News Corp. to charge cable systems every month for content," he says. Those contracts are multiyear and include annual price increases. The company should be able to grow earnings and cash flow at double-digit rates for the foreseeable future. He declined to comment on his plans for the stock post-split up.

Fischman has long owned the Boston-based real-estate investment trust
American Toweramt -1.1569416498993963%American Tower REITU.S.: NYSEUSD98.25
-1.15-1.1569416498993963%
/Date(1425412548440-0600)/
Volume (Delayed 15m)
:
1828621
P/E Ratio
53.42934782608695Market Cap
41768776721.5103
Dividend Yield
1.5461295900722205% Rev. per Employee
1509590More quote details and news »amtinYour ValueYour ChangeShort position
(AMT). "I've trimmed it 10 times over the last decade," he says, but it's still attractive at $72.55, or 34.7 times forward earnings. The company's ubiquitous relay towers provide a vital link to the growing demand for cell phones. Plus, newcomers find it tough to enter the field because of high capital investment costs and the time it takes to win approval to place a tower. Once the towers are in place, they are low maintenance.

The credit-card outfit Visa has a similar story, says Fischer. Double-digit growth is expected as consumers opt for alternative forms of payment. Visa is the financial connection between banks and retailers. It has high barriers to entry and needs relatively little capital. He bought more shares after they were hammered too much on concerns about the regulation of interchange fees and fell to the low $70s. But he'd still buy them today at $137.42, or 19.3 times forward earnings.

Las Vegas SandsLVS 1.0737432124715363%Las Vegas Sands Corp.U.S.: NYSEUSD57.703
0.6131.0737432124715363%
/Date(1425412569602-0600)/
Volume (Delayed 15m)
:
2675275
P/E Ratio
16.386363636363637Market Cap
45586936579.3625
Dividend Yield
4.507628294036061% Rev. per Employee
300698More quote details and news »LVSinYour ValueYour ChangeShort position
(LVS) is a play on the growth of gambling in Asia. Selling at 16 times forward earnings, at $43.09 a share, it's likely to post double-digit growth for the next five years. The Sands gets 50% of its revenue from Macau, where it's slated to open a new casino shortly. This is a mass-market rather than a VIP business.

The stock has been hit by wariness about China's slowing economic growth. But Fischman doesn't think China's long-term prospects have weakened, or its taste for gambling. "Their balance sheet is in much better shape because they have built all of their casinos. So, the debt has fallen; they pay a dividend, and are buying back stock," he notes.